1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing technology in a print system capable of storing print data, which is included in a print job to be processed by a printing apparatus, together with log information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been a great number of incidents in which confidential business information such as customer information has been leaked. A single incident in which confidential information is leaked can result not only in a general loss of societal trust in the business concerned, but also in businesses being forced to make enormous payouts in compensation and the like. Businesses are therefore looking for more appropriate ways to manage confidential information.
One example of a method for managing confidential information is a conventional method by which access rights are set on data including confidential information (confidential information data) or on the storage server storing this data, and access is limited to people who have the access rights.
However, the leakage incidents of recent years include an overwhelming number in which the leaks were committed by insiders who were in possession of the access rights. Consequently, the setting of access rights alone can no longer be said to offer sufficient control and must therefore be combined with some method of preventing the exposure of accessed confidential information to external parties.
In one such method, in order to avoid circumstances in which accessed confidential data is printed out and carried away as printed matter, a print system which stores print data together with log information so as to allow tracking of the confidential information is under development.
As an example of such a print system, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-118243 discloses a method by which a spooler on a print server passes print-use intermediate data to a printer and to a print log database.
In this method, print data is stored together with log information every time print processing is performed, thereby preventing a person with access rights from secretly printing out data and effectively offering a deterrent to criminal behavior.
However, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-118243 presupposes a print system in which all intermediate data is transmitted to the printer via a printer server. Hence, the method is not sufficiently effective in print systems capable of outputting directly to a printer without going via a print server.
In such arrangements, each printer could conceivably be provided with a function (hereinafter called a log function) for storing print data together with log data. Having the printer or printer driver store the print data included in a print job to be processed via the printer in a database together with log information enables effects similar to those of disclosed patent to be obtained even when the printing is performed without going via a print server.
However, in such a case, it is necessary to provide all the printers or print drivers making up the print system with a logging function. This is because if just one printer without the logging function is connected among the plurality of printers making up the print system and the same printer is used to print confidential information, no log information or the like corresponding to the printed confidential information will be stored.
However, it is troublesome to perform modifications to add the logging function to all printers or printer drivers in a print system having mix of printers including some without the logging function. Performing such modifications is particularly troublesome when printers with undisclosed processing content from different companies are included in the print system.
Thus, to allow confidential information to be managed in such print systems, a trouble-free method of adding a logging function so that all the print data can be stored together with log information is greatly desired.